A portion of the human population has some malformation of the nasal passages which interferes with breathing, including deviated septa and swelling due to allergic reactions. A portion of the interior nasal passage wall may draw in during inhalation to substantially block the flow of air through the nasal passage. Blockage of the nasal passages as a result of malformation, symptoms of the common cold or seasonal allergies are particularly uncomfortable at night, and can lead to sleep disturbances, irregularities and general discomfort.
Spring-based devices for dilating outer wall tissues of the human nose adjacent the nasal passages have a history spanning over one hundred years. The spring-based concept uses resilient means which flex across the bridge of the nose together with means to engage the nasal passage outer walls from either the interior mucosa or exterior epidermis sides thereof and thus stabilize or urge outwardly the nasal outer wall tissue. Some examples of present external nasal dilators are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,453,901; D379,513; D429,332; D430,295; D432,652; D434,146; D437,64; and Japanese patent Reg. No. 1037944; the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. The commercial success of at least one of these inventions, together with that of other modern external nasal dilators, collectively and commonly referred to as nasal strips, has led to the creation and establishment of a nasal dilator product category in the present consumer retail marketplace. Commercial success of prior art nasal dilator devices disclosed before 1990, in particular that of U.S. Pat. No. 1,292,083 (circa 1919), is presumed to be commensurate with the nature of consumer product retail environments at the time of those inventions.
Throughout the history of those medical devices which engage external bodily tissue (i.e., tissue dilators, nasal splints, ostomy devices, surgical drapes, etc.), a long-standing practice in the construction and use thereof has been to interpose a buffer material between the device and the user's skin to facilitate engagement of the device to the skin and to aid user comfort. Said material, such as a spunlaced polyester nonwoven fabric, typically has properties which permit limited, primarily plastic and somewhat elastic deformation within the thickness thereof. These properties can spread out peeling, separating or delaminating forces such as may be caused by gravity acting on the weight of the device; the device's own spring biasing force or rigidity (such as that of a tissue dilator or nasal splint); biasing force that may be present in bodily tissue engaged by the device; surface configuration differences between the device and the skin of the device wearer; displacement of the device relative to the skin or external tissue as a result of shear, tensile, cleavage and/or peel forces imparted thereat via wearer movement (e.g., facial gestures) and/or contact with an object (e.g., clothing, pillow, bedding, etc.); and so on, that may cause partial or premature detachment of the device from the wearer. By spreading out these delaminating forces, said interface material acts as a buffering agent to prevent the transfer of said forces to its adhesive substance, if any, and thereby to the skin. Preventing the transfer of focused delaminating forces substantially eliminates any itching sensation (caused by the separation of the adhesive substance or device from the skin) that a wearer may experience if these delaminating forces were otherwise imparted directly to the skin.
There has been a continuing need in the art to develop nasal dilators which address and improve upon the dynamics and design parameters associated with limited skin surface area adjacent the nasal passages, adhesive attachment, delaminating spring biasing forces, device comfort, and durational longevity.
Firstly, tissues associated with and adjacent the nasal passages have limited skin surface areas to which dilation may be applied. Said surfaces extend upward from the nostril opening to the cartilage just above the nasal valve, and extend outward from the bridge of the nose to each approximate line where the sides of the nose meet each cheek.
Secondly, nasal dilators are, of necessity, releasably secured to said skin surfaces by use of pressure sensitive adhesives. Skin surfaces transmit moisture vapor to the surrounding atmosphere. Said adhesives break down in the presence of skin oils, moisture and the transmission of moisture vapor, often within hours.
Thirdly, the functional element of present and historic spring-based nasal dilator devices designed to engage and stabilize and/or expand nasal outer wall tissue is a semi-rigid resilient member which extends beyond each side of the bridge of the nose adjacent the nostrils. External nasal dilator devices of the present modern era feature a flat, substantially rectangular or slightly arcuate resilient member made of plastic. When engaged to a nose, the resilient member exerts a spring biasing force which tends to substantially return or restore the device to an original, generally planar, state thus dilating the local tissue. Said spring biasing force creates primarily peel and some tensile forces generated at the end regions of the device where engaged to the nose of a wearer. Said forces work to delaminate the end regions of the dilator device from skin surfaces so engaged.
Constructing a device with less than 10 grams of spring biasing force in order to mitigate delaminating peel forces may not provide suitable stabilization to, or dilation of, nasal outer wall tissues. Over-engineering the dilator by using a more aggressive adhesive, a greater amount of adhesive, or greater adhesive surface area in order to withstand greater spring biasing force increases the likelihood of user discomfort during use and damage to the tissue upon removal of the device. Additionally, a dilating spring biasing force of 40 grams or more could, in and of itself, be uncomfortable for most users.
Presently known spring-based nasal dilator devices which are suitable or adaptable for mass commercialization in the present consumer retail market typically fall within a range of dimensions of 5.0 to 7.5 cm (2.0″ to 3.0″) in length and 1.2 to 2.5 cm (0.5″ to 1.0″) in width. Resilient members are typically from about 4.2 to 5.8 cm (1.7″ to 2.3″) long, approximately 0.048 to 0.12 cm (0.12″ to 0.30″) wide and typically 0.010″ thick. A resilient member thickness of more or less than 0.010″ is not common in the art, but may be incorporated with proportionate adjustments to width and length. Examples include devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. D379,513; 5,533,503; 5,546,929; RE35408; 6,453,901; 7,114,495; and Spanish Utility Model 289-561 for Orthopaedic Adhesive. These devices provide sufficient dilation of nasal passage outer wall tissues and thus provide the claimed benefit to the vast majority of users. In addition, the '503 and '901 disclosures teach means for shifting, transforming and redistributing delaminating peel and tensile forces into primarily shear forces. Said shifting or transforming is desirable since the pressure sensitive adhesive disposed on nasal dilator devices for engaging skin surfaces adjacent the nasal passages withstand shear forces generally better, longer and more reliably than peel forces.
The '503 device features a complicated structure at the device lateral end edges whereby to shift, transform or redistribute said delaminating peel and tensile forces. Said structure includes first and second parallel, spaced apart, resilient spring bands with identical scalloped end edges forming upper and lower protrusions separated by a valley. The extent of said protrusions are defined by the respective ends of the resilient bands. Outboard and adjacent said upper and lower protrusions are respective upper and lower extensions separated from said protrusions by upper and lower back cuts. Said extensions extend past said protrusions. The '503 specification teaches that the constituent features of this end edge structure combine to effectively minimizes significant inadvertent peeling of the device end regions from the outer wall tissue of the nasal passages as a result of the discontinuity of shape of the materials at the intersection of said protrusions and said extensions, as defined by said back cuts, and redistributes and transforms peeling and tensile delaminating forces into primarily shear forces which are imparted to said upper and lower extensions extending beyond said back cuts.
The '901 disclosure teaches a simpler end region structure which includes relief cuts placed adjacent each terminal end of a single resilient spring band, extending around its terminal ends and slightly along the upper and lower longitudinal edges thereof, corresponding to the general outline of the terminal ends of the resilient band without contact thereto. When in use on the nose of a wearer, this structure shifts peel and tensile delaminating forces into primarily shear forces which are imparted to the material extending between said relief cuts and the lateral end edges of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,333 discloses a dilator device which features various openings, slits, notches and cuts formed within the peripheral edges of a resilient member whereby to selectively reduce spring biasing forces locally so that the resilient member may be used as a stand alone dilator device without the use of additional materials for maintaining the dilator device engaged to the nose of a wearer.
The present invention builds upon the prior art by providing means to direct the resilient properties of a nasal dilator whereby to overcome the aforementioned dynamics and design parameters associated with external dilation of nasal outer wall tissues.